This is a very short excerpt from my newest book, Homeschooling for the Rest of Us (Bethany House, 2010).  This topic was on my mind today and I thought perhaps it would bring encouragement to some of you.  Sonya 

If you’re still feeling pressure because experts or others tell you to “do it this way” or “if you’d only follow my plan, your life will be perfect, your children will obey, and they will love learning” or any other “just do it my way” kinds of statements, my advice is simple: Find different experts!

I’ve had some requests for teaching ideas for the Winter Olympics. I wrote down a lot of the resources we’re using in my family and also some of the things we’re doing as part of our studies over the next two weeks. (For those of you who have asked about where to watch online, where to read history of the games or events, etc., all this is included in the information I’ve listed!)

There are SOOO many fun things you can do when you integrate “real life” with homeschooling. Take the opportunity to STUDY what’s going on around you - or in the world. For example, if the Olympics are happening, then study the Olympics. If it’s a heavy hurricane season, investigate hurricanes, chart their courses, and learn about weather patterns… Anyway, hopefully the links and suggestions in this article will give you some ideas - at least for having fun with your children during the Olympics!

(I won’t post this particular article here because it’s too long. You can find the ideas at my website here.)

In His Service,
Sonya Haskins, author of Homeschooling for the Rest of Us (available through your local Christian retailer!)

As I talk with homeschoolers, there is this overwhelming feeling from parents (moms AND dads) that the homeschooled child just isn’t learning enough. Now if the child truly has deficits, of course we should work to repair those. If the child is slow in particular areas, it is wise to make attempts to pull the child up to the level where he or she should be. However, I just want to encourage all of you that God has HIS OWN PLAN for your child. HIS plan may lead your child to a future in the military or on the missions field. HIS plan might be a career for your child. HIS plan may be for your daughter to become a stay-at-home mom one day. HIS plan may be something not quite so grand as any of these things. I certainly do not know what God’s plan is for your child, but I can assure you of one thing. God’s plan IS that your child draw closer to HIM and, in general, this is something that is best accomplished through the homeschool setting.

As you go about your day… As you LIVE life… As you train your child… In other words, as you HOMESCHOOL.. . I encourage you to remember that we are not told to make all the decisions for our children. We are not told to shield them from pain, disappointment or accountability. We’re not told to pick a career for him or her. We’re not EVEN told to make sure they can multiply, divide, understand Shakespeare, or find Asia on a map! We are told to TRAIN OUR CHILDREN IN THE WAY THEY SHOULD GO. Intelligence is not wisdom. Education can be a lot of things, but today most people have been taught to understand education as the ability to answer true / false, multiple choice, or matching questions in a workbook or on a test. This may show that the student has mastered test-taking skills (reasonable deduction to find the answer), but TRUE knowledge of something means that someone UNDERSTANDS it to the point that they have the ability to discuss it, describe it, or otherwise share the information with someone else as if they themselves had been transformed into the “teacher.”

I know that many of you sometimes believe that you’re doing a poor job, but the fact is that you are providing your children with the best education possible, even if it doesn’t always seem so.

Sonya Haskins : )

Since there have been several posts about chickens for sale or people looking for chickens on the digest this year, I thought some of you might benefit from some tips for taking care of your flock this winter. Chickens can tolerate low temperatures, but once it gets below freezing, they are susceptible to all sorts of problems just like any other animal. I hope the tips are helpful to those of you wondering how you’re going to care for your chickens this winter.

- First off, “winterize” your coop. Add extra covering (boards, blankets, metal sheeting, etc.) to block the wind. If necessary, fill in cracks with caulk or a similar material to reduce drafts. (We use blankets on the coops that are not in areas where they’re going to get soaked if it rains.)

- Chickens need clean, fresh water at all times. If your water is freezing due to the cold weather, you’ll need to change water about 3 times a day to ensure that the water isn’t frozen. For the past few days, we’ve changed our water several times per day and each time, the water has already started freezing again. Chickens drink a LOT of water and if they get dehydrated, they can die quickly so keep that water liquid and don’t let it freeze. (BTW, if your chickens ever do start to get dehydrated, you can add a little mixture of electrolytes to the drinking water and they’ll usually perk up within 12 hours unless they are too far gone. This is available at farm and garden stores in liquid or powder form. We use the powder.) Chickens should never go more than a couple of hours without water. (If you can afford it, some people use submersible water heaters so that you don’t have to change the water several times a day to unfreeze it. We can’t afford one so we just go out several times and as it starts to freeze, we give them fresh water.)

- Keep chickens together. Their body heat will help them stay a little warmer. If possible, keep larger flocks and let them stay together in the winter.

- Make sure they have plenty of food and, if possible, supplement with grass and even food scraps (NOT meat!). During the winter, we try to pull or clip a little bit of long grass that is left and give it to the chickens, which they love, and also scraps from our food such as the little pieces you pull off oranges, apple peel, etc. In other words, we try to supplement with vitamin rich foods since they aren’t getting as many vitamins with the limited daylight hours.

- For younger chickens (less than four months), you’ll need to use a heat lamp. If you have to, run an extension cord outside to their coop. They NEED this extra heat or they are likely to die either from the cold or diseases and problems related to being too cold.

- Research your breeds. Some breeds tolerate freezing weather a little better than other breeds. If you have a breed that doesn’t tolerate winter weather well, you’ll need to be extra sure that your chickens are protected for the winter months.

- Add extra bedding that could help with warmth. Chickens still perch at night if you have perches for them, but extra bedding such as wood shavings, straw or hay. (Do not use these with very young chickens. They’ll eat them and the shavings are bad for their digestion at young ages. For our babies, we don’t use bedding at all. We have them on plain, flat wood that we clean off regularly and we add a couple of cheap towels for them to sleep on. Once they are older, we add perches, but we prefer that our babies stay in a coop as close to the house as possible and this coop doesn’t have perches in it.)

- Remember to keep their living quarters extra clean in the winter months. Since chickens are less able to roam during the winter months, this increases the risk of parasites and diseases so it’s important to keep the cage extra clean. (I realize this is difficult since it’s so bloomin’ cold outside, but we just go out every few days and clean up the droppings and turn the bedding in the cages with bedding. So far we haven’t had any difficulty with parasites and it takes only about ten minutes to clean all our cages. We just go out and do this on the “less cold” days!)

- Check bedding daily to make sure it’s not wet or frozen, which can cause frostbite. (This is particularly an issue if your water gets knocked over so check this.) You should change the bedding about twice a week, but check it daily for problems.

- Check on your birds often during the winter days. If they are huddled too closely together, not moving much, or chirping loudly, then there is most likely a problem. They are probably too cold. There can be other issues as well. The other day when the wind was blowing at almost 40 miles per hour at our house, we went out to check on our pullets (they’re about 4 months old) and they were literally plastered up against the side of the cage because the wind was blowing so hard that they could not move! I felt so bad for them! The board that normally protects them from this had blown away. We quickly added more boards and put up barriers to ensure that the boards wouldn’t blow away. This gave the chickens added protection from the wind and they were then able to climb up in their little perch area.

- Predators are more common in the winter due to the shortage of other natural foods so make sure your cage is safe against predators. Consider caging free range chickens during the winter months.

Finally, just remember that your chickens are much more susceptible to the problems associated with cold weather than your other animals (dogs, cats, etc.) because you typically bring in your other animals during the winter, but not your “farm” animals. Please check on your flock regularly and make it part of your homeschool routine during the winter months. Share Proverbs 12:10 with your children: “A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal.” Train them to take care of the needs of their animals. During the winter, this will involve more work than other seasons of the year, but if you want to have eggs again in the spring, then caring for your chickens in the winter is essential.

Enjoy your flock!
Sonya

www.thehomeschooladvocate.com

Hannah and I were cuddling this evening and she said, “Mommy, wouldn’t it be wonderful if children could pick out which parents they wanted and then adopt them?”

“Hmmmm. Would you pick me,” I asked.

“I would pick you,” she giggled, “and then tickle you under the chin and say, ‘You’re the sweetest Mommy in the world!’”

Even though we’re supposed to show our children love like the Father shows us, I think it’s the other way around. When I look at my children, I see how much the Father loves us.

Sonya

www.thehomeschooladvocate.com

I’m working every moment to meet my deadline for the new book I’m working on for Bethany House Publishers. That means no time to clean, everyone has to eat canned food and sandwiches for a few days, and lots of late nights. Last night I was up late trying to rename the chapter titles, which I was really unhappy with. Micah and Sarah were still up so I asked them what they thought of my new titles.

One of the chapters is called “Living in a messy house.” I read that one out loud and waited for their responses.

Micah looked around quickly and replied, “Um, Mommy, I think the title of that chapter should be ‘Living in a VERY messy house.’”

Hmmmm…

Sonya Haskins

www.thehomeschooladvocate.com

Here in East Tennessee, we’ve had cold, cold, cold weather. Actually, we’ve had much colder weather than usual and we’ve had much more snow than we’ve had in several years. I enjoy seeing the snow. After all, if it’s going to be cold, it may as well snow. I definitely don’t enjoy the cold, though.

Today the boys wanted to go play blocks on the porch. I told Christopher that Daddy could bring them into the dinning room for them and he said, “No, we would really like to play outside since the weather is so nice.” I said that was a wonderful idea so we prepared to go outside. I noticed that Christopher didn’t have on his shoes and I said, “Christopher, put on your shoes before you go outside.”

He quickly pointed to his feet and replied, “But I want leave these on.”

We all started laughing and I said, “It’s a good thing since you can’t take them off!”

I guess we’re all a bit anxious for warm weather to come so we all decided that bare feet could be the standard for today since God had blessed us with a day of beautiful weather in February! I am battling another frustrating headache coming on at the moment, but the children are enjoying some time outside at home with their dad. I hope everyone else is enjoying this gorgeous day as well.

Sonya
www.thehomeschooladvocate.com

Every homeschooler … every parent for that matter … has had those moments when you take your children out in public and they do something incredibly embarrassing. Recently my 5-year-old daughter did something to my husband and my only regret is that I didn’t have a video camera there.

I normally cut our children’s hair and my husband’s hair at home.  Lately, because I’ve been so sick, I just haven’t felt like doing much and I certainly haven’t felt like cutting anyone’s hair.  Finally, last week I took everyone to a beauty shop.  I had the boys’ hair cut and then waited there for Chris to get off work and come by for his haircut.  Since my energy is very limited due to the medicine I’m on and I also tend to get very nauseous once I’ve been out for a while, I was starting to feel very bad by the time Chris arrived and I was ready to leave.

The boys were reading books in the lobby and Hannah wanted to watch Chris get his haircut so I left with Sarah. Â When Chris came home, he was quite embarrassed and shared with me what had happened after I left.

He had been sitting there in the chair while Hannah stood there watching and the beautician was cutting his hair. Â Hannah was being really quite and suddenly she very matter of factly stated, “My daddy has lice.”

Chris was so embarrassed and said he about came up out of his chair. Â It was obvious that the beautician believed this cute, sweet little 5-year-old and she wondered why Chris hadn’t shared this fact with her before she started cutting his hair, but then he had to explain that he did NOT have lice. Â He said that he was sure she didn’t believe him at that point and if you know my husband, you’ll know that he is not very persuasive anyway so I’m sure that didn’t help matters any.

After he told me all this at home, I asked Hannah why she had done that and she simply said, “Welllll, I just wanted to see what would happen and ….. I thought it might be funny.”

Honestly, we should probably have punished her, but it still makes me laugh and really, who hasn’t wanted to do something like that at times “just to see what would happen”?!?

I’m glad it gave us all a good chuckle, but I bet the next time Chris wants to get his hair cut, he’ll want to go alone!

Sonya

www.thehomeschooladvocate.com

P.S. Â And NO, no one in my family has lice!

On one of my e-mail loops, someone recently asked about children who reverse their letters. This was my answer. The gal who asked the question found it helpful so I thought someone else might benefit from it here. Of course I’m not a “professional” and you should know that when you read my answer. I have had a lot of experience with children, though, so despite the lack of academic credentials, you may find some of the suggestions useful nonetheless.

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In addition to teaching our own children to read and helping several foster teens learn to read better (who were at about a kindergarten reading level), I also used to help in the public school system with the gifted/special needs children. Of all the children I’ve watched learn to read, write, count and write numbers, I have never seen a child who didn’t write backwards at some point, especially with numbers. I’ve seen most children start out writing their numbers this way and some actually transition to backwards writing after they already know their letters. I think it’s simply part of the process of their brains learning to recognize the letters.Â

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Students may continue to do this until they are even nine or ten years old. I’ve even had parents tell me that their child must be incredibly gifted because he/she could write whole sentences backwards and that’s not a phase so much as a preference. My husband used to have to read all his brother’s notes with a mirror because he wrote everything backwards.  Either way, I wouldn’t fret over it.

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For you and others whose children are doing this, I would just encourage you to continue to expose your young student to lots and lots of books (to reinforce the proper shape of the letters), read to them a lot (to reinforce sounds that go with letters and expose them to new vocabulary), have them work puzzles (to develop fine motor skills), encourage them to do mazes (which again forces their brain and fingers/hands to work together for a common goal), and be creative with your “letter practice.” I think too many parents introduce handwriting too early, which is another reason kids start writing backwards and get bored with school very easily. Instead of having your child sit and write numbers and letters on paper, where it is very easy for little hands and little fingers without fully developed motor skills to get confused, try some creative practice and games like the following:

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- Have the child form letters and numbers out of Playdough. Since this is much SLOWER than writing a number, you can actually watch as he/she forms the letters/numbers and remind the child to turn it the correct direction.

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- Write letters/numbers correctly and backwards on index cards. Place them on the floor and make a path to somewhere - the toybox, a piece of candy, etc. - and have him/her follow the correctly written path to the “prize.” You can make the path as long as you want, but make sure you have an incorrect path leading somewhere not so fun - like the trash can or a dead end wall.

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- I don’t normally encourage food play, but make mashed potatoes and have your child take a butter knife and “write” the numbers in the potatoes. You could do the same with yogurt spread on a plate. When he/she gets the numbers correct, use a spoon to spread your food flat again and start over with a different number/letter.

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- Make use of finger paints. Finger paints are terrific for developing number/letter recognition while developing fine motor skills without frustrating a child. Pencils often frustrate children. With finger paints, they can paint the numbers/letters in pretty colors and you can watch to make sure that they are making them the correct way, but their focus is solely on the number/letter. Think about this… with a pencil, the child not only has to think about the form of the number/letter, he will also be thinking about the meaning of that form AND he also has to concentrate on holding the pencil the correct way and making sure it is “working” - as in pushing graphite to the paper and something is coming out.Â

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- We play letter “touch” games that help the student develop the ability to discern between forwards and backwards. When you’re getting ready for bed or nap, rub your child’s back a little bit, just to “clear the slate,” then write one letter at a time on his/her back. Once the child is good enough at this, you can build up to spelling words.

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- If the back touch game is too difficult, therapists sometimes play a similar game, but they do it on the child’s hand. Open the child’s palm and write the letter so that is it facing the correct way for the student.

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- Write letters in the sand. Of course you can’t do it this time of year and again, this takes a little more development if you’re using a stick, but if you let the child start with their fingers, it will reinforce the letters and be easier for the child to accomplish.

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- If your children like to play with Legos, have them make letters/numbers out of the Legos. This is lots of fun!

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- If your child likes to draw, have him/her create number people, but the trick is that no one is accepted into the community who isn’t facing the correct direction. Have your child create a “town” of number people and draw them. To do this, just tell them that it’s going to be their town and they can make a story to go with it (they do NOT need to write this down, simply create it in their heads), then draw houses, buildings, cars, etc. Then the child draws numbers to represent the people and they should be scattered throughout the town. The child can “decorate” each number/letter person with clothing, hair, hats, etc., BUT tell them that only citizens are allowed in the town. Write the “citizens” on another sheet of paper or have a number/letter line ready so that the child can make sure his citizens look appropriate (not backwards).

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That’s a handful of ideas, but hopefully someone will find them useful. I think most kids write backwards just because they are just beginning their journey with language and it’s a natural thing to do as they explore the written world.  All children I’ve ever seen have written letters backwards regardless of the age they started reading. I believe it’s just nothing to worry about at this stage.

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Have fun with the suggestions! Â

Sonya HaskinsÂ